500,000 more of us are now renting - These are the areas with the biggest increases

Matthew Miller
Authored by Matthew Miller
Posted: Sunday, July 11, 2021 - 09:11

The latest research by nationwide buy-to-let specialist, Sequre Property Investment, has revealed where across the nation has seen the biggest swing towards renting when compared to homeownership in recent years.

Sequre analysed data on dwellings across each area of England since 2012 and found that currently, 19.5% of the 24.4m dwellings across England sit within the private rental sector. While this has only increased 1% since 2012, this equates to an increase of nearly 500,000 more people living within privately rented properties across the country.

At a regional level, London is home to the highest level of private renters, accounting for 28.8% of total dwellings. The capital has also seen the largest lifestyle swing towards renting with a 2.2% increase since 2012.

However, this increase isn’t confined to the capital and the West Midlands has seen the second-largest increase, with the number of those reliant on rental properties increasing by 1.9% since 2012.

The North East has also seen one of the largest increases at 1.5%, as has the South West (1.3%).

At local authority level, both Greenwich and the City of London have seen the largest uplift in private renters, with both areas seeing the percentage of dwellings sitting within the private rental sector increase by 3.4% since 2012.

In fact, London accounts for eight of the top 10 increases with Newham (2.5%), Tower Hamlets (2.2%), Southwark (2%), Hackney (1.9%), Barking and Dagenham (1.5%) and Lewisham (1.5%) also making the top 10.

Outside of the capital, Telford and Wrekin has seen the number of private rental properties increase by 1.6% since 2012, with Salford also home to one of the largest increases at 1.5%.

Sales Director at Sequre Property Investment, Daniel Jackson, commented:

“The ever-escalating cost of homeownership, coupled with a change in lifestyle choices amongst younger generations, has seen the number of us opting to reside within the private rental sector continue to grow in recent years.

In fact, it’s fair to the role of the private rental sector within the wider landscape of the UK property market has never been as important.

Despite this, the government has consistently looked to deter landlords from the sector in order to boost housing stock in order to address the current housing crisis.

However, it’s clear that with so many remaining reliant on the rental sector in order to live, this lazy approach will only shift the problem from one area of the market to another.”

Data sourced: Gov.uk - Live tables on dwellings stock

Location

2012

2019

Private rental change (%)

Private Rent

Total Dwellings

As % of Total Dwellings

Private Rent

Total Dwellings

As % of Total Dwellings

London

898,000

3,383,000

26.5%

1,034,000

3,593,000

28.8%

2.2%

West Midlands region

365,000

2,387,000

15.3%

433,000

2,513,000

17.2%

1.9%

North East

176,000

1,183,000

14.9%

202,000

1,237,000

16.3%

1.5%

South West

432,000

2,419,000

17.9%

494,000

2,579,000

19.2%

1.3%

East Midlands

353,000

1,983,000

17.8%

393,000

2,103,000

18.7%

0.9%

East of England

435,000

2,550,000

17.1%

481,000

2,705,000

17.8%

0.7%

North West

528,000

3,155,000

16.7%

570,000

3,300,000

17.3%

0.5%

Yorkshire and the Humber

447,000

2,332,000

19.2%

479,000

2,441,000

19.6%

0.5%

South East

651,000

3,719,000

17.5%

676,000

3,944,000

17.1%

-0.4%

England

4,286,000

23,111,000

18.5%

4,762,000

24,414,000

19.5%

1.0%

Data sourced: Gov.uk - Live tables on dwellings stock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location

2012

2019

Private rental change (%)

Private Rent

Total Dwellings

As % of Total Dwellings

Private Rent

Total Dwellings

As % of Total Dwellings

Greenwich

19,485

104,509

18.6%

25,191

114,398

22.0%

3.4%

City of London

2,088

5,531

37.8%

2,675

6,506

41.1%

3.4%

Newham

34,898

104,121

33.5%

42,124

116,979

36.0%

2.5%

Tower Hamlets

34,933

108,254

32.3%

41,885

121,539

34.5%

2.2%

Southwark

29,457

124,319

23.7%

35,039

136,178

25.7%

2.0%

Hackney

29,656

103,565

28.6%

34,100

111,559

30.6%

1.9%

Telford and Wrekin

10,767

69,434

15.5%

13,142

76,763

17.1%

1.6%

Barking and Dagenham

13,507

71,431

18.9%

15,511

75,829

20.5%

1.5%

Lewisham

29,067

118,839

24.5%

33,277

128,115

26.0%

1.5%

Salford

22,517

108,755

20.7%

26,463

119,389

22.2%

1.5%

Tags